Office evaluation of the patient with musculoskeletal complaints

Many musculoskeletal complaints are accompanied by classic signs and symptoms that can be readily diagnosed by the primary care physician. Others are much less obvious and present a diagnostic challenge. In the office evaluation of patients with musculoskeletal complaints, the history is the most informative element. Least helpful are laboratory tests. Although erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), rheumatoid factor, and other widely available tests are sensitive to the presence of rheumatic diseases, they are not specific for any of them. In the initial office evaluation, helpful points of differentiation include the number of joints involved, their location, and, when multiple joints are involved, whether they are symmetric or asymmetric. An acute monarthritis is associated mainly with trauma, infection, or a crystal-induced synovitis such as gout or pseudogout. Patients with polyarthritis may have symptoms that come and go very quickly, sometimes in < 24-36 hours. This migratory pattern characterizes diseases such as gonococcal arthritis, viral disease, and sarcoidosis. "Rheumatoid variants" such as Reiter's syndrome, psoriatic arthritis, and spondylitis may affect no more than a few joints and are accompanied by other signs, such as nail and skin lesions (psoriasis) or urogenital and enteric infections (Reiter's). Like erosive osteoarthritis, the rheumatoid variants may also cause swelling and inflammation of the distal interphalangeal joints. The classic example of symmetric joint disease is rheumatoid arthritis (RA). While RA often occurs in a progressive and additive pattern, its onset may be followed by a remission several months later. Patients who present with the "algias" may have no physical signs but manifest extensive musculoskeletal pain. Fibromyalgia occurs typically in younger women; polymyalgia rheumatica rarely occurs in patients < 50 years of age and is usually accompanied by a strikingly high ESR. Age and gender should be noted in the office evaluation because they can provide clues not only to these "algias," but other rheumatic diseases seen more frequently in one age or gender group than another.